Battle of Tiangi

The Battle of Tiangi was fought on 9 November 2001 during the invasion of Afghanistan. A handful of US soldiers, later joined by Abdul Rashid Dostum's Northern Alliance forces, successfully cleared the heavily-guarded Tiangi Gap of Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, paving the way for an advance on the Taliban's northern stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Aftermath
On 7 November 2001, after discovering that the United States was supporting fellow Northern Alliance commander and archenemy Atta Muhammad Nur, Abdul Rashid Dostum and his army abandoned its allied US contingent, Operational Detachment Alpha 595, whose captain Mitch Nelson resolved to take the Tiangi Gap and push on to Mazar-i-Sharif. Nelson wanted to clear the heavily-guarded Tiangi Gap in order to take Mazar and northern Afghanistan with it, and then wipe al-Qaeda from the country; he feared that, if al-Qaeda was not flushed out, they would launch mass-casualty attacks against America again and again.

Hal Spencer and Scott Black were sent to call in airstrikes from the eastern flank; Ben Milo, Kevin Jackson, and Pat Essex were pushed out against the Taliban's western flank; Sam Diller, Sean Coffers, and Bill Bennett were sent to cover the Taliban's northern flank in an attempt to block reinforcements from Mazar; Fred Falls and Vern Michaels would take up sniper positions on the southern flank; and Nelson and Charles Jones would advance into battle on horseback. The 12 Americans and a handful of Northern Alliance allies faced 15,000 insurgents, including Taliban soldiers, tanks, armored vehicles, and al-Qaeda foreign fighters from the 055 Brigade.

Battle
The Americans opened the battle by calling in a series of airstrikes against the insurgent armor and soldiers in the gap, inflicting heavy casualties. However, a group of Taliban found Spencer's group and attempted to surrender, but suicide bomber Ziar Lango detonated his suicide vest and took several Taliban fighters with him; he wounded Spencer, who was medevaced to the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan. At the same time, al-Qaeda armor began to move into the valley, but the tide was turned when Dostum's army arrived, as Dostum had ultimately decided to put aside his petty dispute with Atta Muhammad and focus on fighting the Taliban. The Americans called in more close air support, repelling a Taliban counterattack, and Nelson decided to lead the US Army's first cavalry charge of the 21st century, charging the Taliban missile launcher alongside several Northern Alliance horsemen (including Dostum himself). Nelson was unhorsed by an explosion, and he managed to hold off several Taliban horsemen with just his pistol. Dostum and the other US soldiers then charged in on horseback, and they managed to drive back the Taliban forces. Razzan fled in a pickup truck as his men were scattered and routed, but his truck hit a rut, and Dostum executed him with a pistol. With the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in retreat, the US and Northern Alliance forces were able to advance on Mazar-i-Sharif.